If you haven’t heard, Life Science Nation provides consulting services for branding and messaging, both critical to the fundraising process. The LSN mantra is, “We echo to our clients what the investors tell us they want to see”. Through conversations with investors through the years, LSN has the knowledge to help shape your marketing collateral to address what investors are looking for, whether you meet during a RESI Conference or on your own time.

Top Three Pieces of Marketing Collateral You Need

There are three key marketing documents investors generally evaluate to form a first impression of your company: the executive summary, pitch deck, and company website. These three pieces of content have one purpose: they serve to whet the target investor/partner’s appetite and convince them to request a meeting with you and start a dialogue. Below is a list of all supporting marketing collateral you may need for your fundraising campaign. This article will go into further detail on the executive summary, pitch deck, and website and what the content should highlight.

What “value” does your business add?

One key takeaway from all your marketing collateral should be the value of your company and its technology. Investors want to easily understand your message and value-add right away, no matter what the marketing collateral. Investors tend to be very busy, but if you can pique their initial interest, you will have plenty of opportunity to provide more information as the dialogue unfolds. The investor does not want to have difficulty understanding your company value so make sure you have a clear message for them.

There is no standardization.

Many of our clients go through a learning curve due to the lack of standardization of the fundraising collateral (executive summary etc.) required by investors. This makes it extremely difficult to provide a course on the basics of fundraising branding and messaging. This has led to the service we provide, creating custom marketing collateral.

An investor can receive as many as 100 solicitations per week. Investors have become experts at skimming and looking for a spark to ignite their interest. If that is not found, they quickly move on to the next opportunity.

How to get started.

An executive summary (ES) is typically no more than 2 pages and can be accompanied by a visual PowerPoint (your pitch deck) of 10-12 slides. Usually, they are sent together when you reach out for an initial introduction as it provides the investor with key background information upfront. The goal is to move them from either document to your website for more detailed content.

Here are five main points we have learned regarding the ES and pitch deck.

Send both an executive summary and a pitch deck. Some folks click on an executive summary and others click on the deck. Most investors have an innate preference for one or the other. Since you won’t know before reaching out, LSN recommends that you send out both.

The executive summary is the story of your company and how you got to your current state.

The pitch deck should reflect what is in the executive summary, but in bullet form, with the addition of more information that shows the value-add of your firm and product.

The pitch deck is your tool to present your company position to investors, therefore replacing your voice. It needs to stand completely on its own because it is read in your absence. Unlike a standard deck used for a presentation with bullets designed to trigger your dialogue, the pitch is being read as it is. The challenge is to be able to deliver the complete message with as few, concise words as possible and no need for a presenter.

Remember, it’s the investor’s first introduction to your company. The investor will not have the full context, and therefore some level of contextual detail may be necessary.

Your website represents your company brand.

Your company website is a detailed representation explaining your company and its technology. It needs to offer a “deep dive” on the company and team, more detailed than is possible in your executive summary and pitch deck. The website should provide all of the detail and context that tell the full story of your company and its value. Even so, it is necessary to maintain consistency with your language and provide a clear message.

If done right and the message comes across, then the target partner will be able to assess that you’re a good fit and decide to initiate a conversation. The executive summary, the pitch deck and the website are all created for one reason – to give enough compelling information that an investor decides to initiate the first meeting.

Remember, it’s about the buyer: a busy investor with cash to allocate. Keep in mind they will do a quick scan of your deck and executive summary. They will be looking for something that will impart enough interest that they will want to have a chat with you and your firm.

Market Your Life Science Startup to Investors

A fundraising campaign starts with presenting yourself and your technology to potential channel partners and investors who are a fit for your product and stage of development. As part of the Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) Conference, attendees can apply to the RESI Innovation Challenge which, if you are selected to participate, can greatly increase exposure for your company before, during and after the day of the conference. The partners and investors who frequent RESI know that the companies selected, routinely showcase compelling technology. Attending RESI and participating in the RESI Innovation Challenge are only one part of fundraising for CEOs and scientist-entrepreneurs. Here is Life Science Nation’s step-by-step process for a successful fundraising campaign and how and why RESI plays an important role.

Step 1: You need a list of investors and contacts

To raise capital, an early-stage CEO needs to create a Global Target List of potential investors. There are around 400-500 relevant global early-stage investors on a typical Global Target List, spanning 10 categories of investors in early-stage Biotech, Medtech, Diagnostics, and Digital Health. This list should be sourced from a curated platform to ensure the most up-to-date information. With a vetted list of qualified investors who are a fit, the fundraising executive can be more efficient in their outreach. This will lead to a higher response rate from your phone and email campaigns and thus result in a higher number of meetings booked to initiate dialogue with your partnering targets.

Step 2: Hire the right people

A fundraising campaign is something your company can execute internally with the right staff: phoning and emailing investors, setting up meetings, and organizing the campaign follow-up takes an enthusiastic personality. While many CEOs might be tempted to look for an outside service provider to manage the fundraising campaign, my recommendation is to do it internally. Personal outreach and clear messaging are equally important when reaching out to potential investors. At the end of the day, fundraising is a numbers game and having the right staff canvassing your Global Target List and initiating dialogue causes relationships to take root. However, initiating the conversation is never enough – the follow-ups, second and third meetings are when you’re generating real interest. This requires dedicated effort to ensure proper follow-through.

Step 3: Join opportunities to network

Face-to-face meetings are best for promoting relationships – that’s why we’ve created the RESI Conference. If you come to our next RESI, you may find 20-30% of your targeted investment firms are attending to find the earliest and hottest innovators within the healthcare industry. We offer one-on-one partnering all day for all global attendees at our Partnering Forum. By taking full advantage of our Partnering Platform, you have the opportunity to schedule one-on-one meetings with up to 16 of these investors, supplemented by ad hoc meetings, especially if you are a participant in the RESI Innovation Challenge.

Want to learn more about fundraising?

If you read my free book The Life Science Executive’s Fundraising Manifesto, you will see that I am a big proponent of getting a complete Global Target List and then working the whole list. Establish a dialogue, go to RESI or other events and meet them–you must network. Follow up regularly by emailing all the targets with news on your company and how it is reaching milestones and getting compelling data: investor updates are key to your success and their vested interest in your company.

If you market to this list in an adroit and cogent way you will get on the investors’ radar screen. It’s a numbers game, and when you market to your Global Target List consistently you never know who will surface and what opportunities may arise. If you are just sending out material to investors who are attending an event, why not send out to all who are a potential fit for you? It only takes one interested investor to move a deal along.

It’s hard for fundraising CEOs to avoid cutting corners to save a few thousand dollars on campaign costs, but this can lead to a lot of missed opportunities. Putting your company out there as much as possible by investing in a high-quality marketing package and web presence, hiring staff who can conduct a campaign, and traveling to major investment events will maximize your odds of getting funded.

In addition, being selected as a participant in the RESI innovation Challenge has a compelling track record of helping companies get funded. The deadline to sign up for the RESI Innovation Challenge is soon! Click here to sign up.

Hot Mandates

The firm is focused on therapeutics companies and does not invest in medical devices, diagnostics, or digital health. The firm is open to considering assets of very early stages, even those as early as lead optimization phase. The firm considers various modalities, including antibodies, small molecules, and cell therapy. Currently, the firm is not interested in gene therapy. Indication-wise, the firm is most interested in oncology and autoimmune diseases but has recently looked at fibrotic diseases and certain rare diseases as well.

The firm is opportunistic across all subsectors of healthcare. Within MedTech, the firm is most interested in medical devices, artificial intelligence, robotics, and mobile health. The firm is seeking post-prototype innovations that are FDA cleared or are close to receiving clearance. Within therapeutics, the firm is interested in therapeutics for large disease markets such as oncology, neurology, and metabolic diseases. The firm is open to all modalities with a special interest in immunotherapy and cell therapy.

A strategic investment firm of a large global pharmaceutical makes investments ranging from $5 million to $30 million, acting either as a sole investor or within a syndicate. The firm is open to considering therapeutic opportunities globally, but only if the company is pursuing a market opportunity in the USA and is in dialogue with the US FDA.

The firm is currently looking for new investment opportunities in enterprise software, medical devices, and the healthcare IT space. The firm will invest in 510k devices and healthcare IT companies, and it is very opportunistic in terms of indications. In the past, the firm was active in medical device companies developing dental devices, endovascular innovation devices, and women’s health devices.

A venture capital firm founded in 2005 has multiple offices throughout Asia, New York, and San Diego. The firm has closed its fifth fund in 2017 and is currently raising a sixth fund, which the firm is targeting to be the largest fund to date. The firm continues to actively seek investment opportunities across a […]

Featured: All About Innovation Challenge

Companies from all categories of life science are encouraged to apply to Innovation Challenge for RESI Healthtech Week. Eligible companies can apply to Day 1 the First Coast Innovator’s Gathering, Day 2 RESI Global Partnering or both. Applicants will have the opportunity for excellent visibility among investors and strategic partners.

By Samuel Rubin, Business Development Manager, LSN For the first time this fall, Life Science Nation (LSN) will have two days of competition as part of the RESI Healthtech Week (September 5-7, 2018). Day 1 will feature the First Coast Innovation Challenge, where the top 10 ranked companies of the First Coast tech hubs will present […]

By Jessica Yang, Investor Research Analyst, LSN On June 4th, more than 700 scientist-entrepreneurs and investors entered the exhibition hall at Boston Marriott Copley Place to participate in the RESI conference. They were greeted by 30 Innovation Challenge finalists across therapeutics, medical device, diagnostics, and digital health sectors. The 30 companies, evaluated by LSN’s expert […]

By James Huang, Research Analyst, LSN We are excited to showcase the top RESI Innovation Challenge startup applicants, who will be taking part in the poster presentation showcase at the second annual RESI BIO held in Boston this year, alongside the BIO International conference. These handpicked companies represent the key sectors of the healthcare space […]

An interview with Steven ten Holder, COO, Acorn Biolabs – By Greg Mannix, VP of International Business Development, LSN This year’s 2nd place finisher at the Innovation Challenge at RESI on MaRS was Acorn Biolabs. LSN interviewed COO, Steven ten Holder and got some key takeaways on how Acorn used the RESI Innovation Challenge effectively: […]